The Prime Minister is “on borrowed time” and likely to lead his party to disastrous losses in the upcoming local elections, it has been claimed. Daily Expresso regular Mark Dolan made the claims after a week which saw the Sir Keir Starmer savaged by MPs in the House of Commons after more revelations came to light about the Peter Mandelson saga.
Dolan believes that the saga and an expected disastrous performance in May’s local elections could spell the end of his premiership, with a former ally waiting in the wings to replace him. He told Expresso host JJ Anisiobi: “He is now on borrowed time, we have local elections in May, he is going to get eviscerated. Angela Rayner is an interesting character because I believe that her policies will be terrible, she is more to the left of Starmer.”
He added: “With a country that is in debt with open borders, you need to go right, not left politically I would humbly suggest.
“She is backed by the trade unions who will want their pound of flesh when she becomes Prime Minister which is pay rises in the public sector, more borrowing, more debt.
“So that is a real worry about what she will do in power.”
It comes as it was announced that the Commons will vote on Tuesday over whether to refer Sir Keir Starmer to the Privileges Committee over claims he misled MPs over the way Peter Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador was handled.
Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle allowed a vote on the issue following requests from Tory leader Kemi Badenoch and other senior MPs.
Cabinet minister Emma Reynolds accused the Tories of playing “silly political games” over the issue.
But the Speaker’s decision now gives the Labour leadership a headache in deciding whether to order Sir Keir’s MPs to publicly oppose a referral to the committee.
The committee was responsible for Boris Johnson’s exit from frontline politics after it investigated him for misleading the House over the “partygate” breaches of Covid-19 laws in Downing Street.
He quit as an MP in 2023 before the committee published a report recommending his suspension.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch called for Labour MPs to back the referral to the Privileges Committee.
She said: “The Prime Minister misled the House of Commons repeatedly.
“He appointed a national security risk and friend of a convicted paedophile to be our ambassador in Washington, our most sensitive diplomatic post.
“He pretended that full due process was followed for this appointment. It was not.
“He has blamed the appointment on officials when the blame can only be placed at his own door.”
The Prime Minister has been accused of misleading MPs by saying that “full due process” was followed in appointing Lord Mandelson, who was given developed vetting status despite failing security checks.
The Foreign Office, under then top civil servant Sir Olly Robbins cleared him despite red flags raised by experts at the UK Security Vetting agency responsible for the checks.